Some people were curious to hear impressions of 80's Astro from a new fan so I'ld thought I'ld give my view (if nobody minds ^_^;
seeing as people were expressing interest in what other fans may think of this series.Having recevied my set for Christmas. I started the first episode in the Japanese audio (because I generally prefer subbing to dubbing, but did watch the dub too) and the second and I have to say. This set is good not only just for old fans but for new too. It's not just the nostalga making this series good.
Comparing "The Birth of Astro Boy" with "Power up" (the first ep of the 03 series) "Birth of" won hands down for me. I enjoyed the fact that the Astro of this series was allowed to be a kid and can now see and understand quite why people were disspaointed with 03's story. 03 Astro was allowed to be a kid for all of 10 minutes in the first episode and that was it. In fact I found this episode had echoes of "The Rebirth of Astro" in the 03 series. It feels better starting off getting to know the Tobio Astro was based on and understanding quite why Astro was made, it helps the viewer understand and empthasise with the characters better.
Plus I felt Dr. Tenmas character had been handled better than in the 03 series. Where hes made out as a pretty heartless crazy guy at points. I dont know if this was just his portrayal in the dub or not but the story in the 03 series with his dismissive attitude towards robots supposedly being the reason why Tobo and Tobo-Astro both turned on him and ended up getting killed/deactivated. It felt like it was making him seem too much of a villain, the Tenma seen in this 80's series is more beliveable. You can understand why he said Astro wasnt his son after a tough time on a ship and the fact that he regretted what he said. It's a touching moment when Astro, close to deactivating can hear his dad and is trying to call to him.
Actually looking at this series and the 03 series. I'm surprised how much ISNT cut from this series. Had this series been dubbed by a company like 4-Kids today, I dont think the actual car crash, the dealings with HamEgg, the whippings Hamegg gave Astro or the destruction of Tornado would have remained in the first 2 episodes as they already are in the dub . Though that could be why Astro was never shown over here, we dont normally get many serious cartoons over here in the UK. It's all that light, almost zero plot stuff.
the documentry on the R2 DVD set for the 03 series totally shows why 03 failed to reach the same standard. They had some guy from the US moaning at them about how Astro should be a hero first and a boy second (If at all). Which made me think in the documentary that maybe the animators might of said something different to the subtitles rather than "Oh the guy demanded a bit but we were cool with that". Still bowing to those suggestions made Astro a much more one-sided character. It's whats wrong with so much western animation, they think kids just want the action or the jokes. A sticker on the wrapping my set came in had a quote on it from Entertainment Weekly saying "More compelling than Pokemon", an anime thats bowed to western pressure itself. If only companies like Disney would watch cartons like these and realise that a good cartoon needs more than just action and jokes...
I didn't think you would echoed so many of my feelings for the 2003 series. 
Most of my favorite episodes in the 1980 series are those starting with Astro just being with his family or classmates, in other words, in which Astro is just a boy, not a hero. I was going to say more, but I don't want to spoil anything for you! 
Almost all my favorite episodes of that series involve Tenma. I saw him more as suffering than heartless, but then maybe that's because I already knew him and that played a role in my opinion of him.
